


Growing Pains

by MetamorphicRocky



Series: Dadspeed [10]
Category: Final Space (Cartoon)
Genre: Baby Cato AU, Dadspeed, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I didn't expect this one to be so long, yes I am a monster and no I cannot be stopped
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-30 03:43:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20807972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MetamorphicRocky/pseuds/MetamorphicRocky
Summary: During a battle, Gary's robotic arm takes some damage. It's causing him a lot of pain, but he can't possibly remove the arm, can he?





	Growing Pains

**Author's Note:**

> I don't think I'll ever stop with Baby Cato stuff. Like this is the good stuff. Also this one gets kinda sad but it's all good!!!
> 
> Bonus: tiny little surprise ending that none of you probably would expect, especially if you've seen me talk about this specific topic on tumblr before :)

"Dad, what's that?" Little Cato says as he points to an oddly shaped object.

Gary shrugs. "I don't know, bud."

"Do you think I could eat it?"

Gary takes a second glance at it and instinctively pulls the kid closer to him. "Seeing as how it's made out of metal, no."

The kid at his side deflates, his ears drooping in the way that makes Gary's heart melt at how cute it is.

"But we can get a snack if you want," Gary says, smiling knowingly. And just as he expected, his boy lights up and jumps onto his arm in his excitement.

"Can I get fish?!"

Gary laughs as he picks up Little Cato. "Absolutely not. I am not letting you eat another live animal in public again, or ever, to be honest."

"Booooo," Little Cato whines.

He sticks his tongue out at his dad, and in retaliation, Gary does the same while tickling the kid's neck. Little Cato laughs as he flinches away from the attack, making Gary smile fondly.

His boy opens his eyes, then he gasps and shoves his hands on Gary's face in his haste to look at something over the man's shoulder. "I want that!"

"Little Cato, get off of me," Gary says muffledly because his kid is currently squishing the hell out of his face. The boy does as asked, but he's still bouncing in his dad's arms over whatever food he saw. Gary turns and his mouth drops open at the stand he sees. "Oh my god, are those waffles?!"

"Ooh, waffles! They sound fun!" Little Cato says, his mouth watering.

Gary wastes no time in walking over there to scan the menu, and holy crap, they have so many different waffles. This is the best thing he's seen in a while. He stands in line and debates between literally every option on the menu because they all sound so good, while Little Cato saw chocolate and immediately decided on that one.

As Gary goes back and forth between choices, a man approaches him and taps his shoulder. He turns to see an absolute brute next to him, and he can already sense trouble.

"Are you Gary Goodspeed?"

Gary scoffs, trying to hide his nervousness as Little Cato looks around to find other people the brute might be with. He is so thankful that Nightfall thought of training the kid to do this. "You think I look like him? Jawline's way different, pal. I'm kinda honored though, that someone could mistake me for a famous bounty."

The brute snarls in response, and Gary is very stressed at the moment. Little Cato pulls at his collar to get his attention. "Dad, can I have your second gun? Or maybe your seventh?"

Gary feigns confusion over the question. "Buddy, not right now."

Little Cato fake pouts. "But I only have four!"

"We'll talk about this later, when I'm not having a conversation, okay?" He adjusts his hold on his son in case he needs to shield him from harm or let go of him quickly. 

"Are you sure?" Brute sneers. "I don't know of many humans who have Ventrexian sons—especially small orange ones."

Cover's blown, time to run. Gary taps Little Cato two times on the shoulder, then promptly drops him as he whips out his gun and shoots the brute right in the chest. He grabs Little Cato's hand and books it back towards the Crimson Light as fast as he can through the crowd, avoiding shots from four people on his seven and two. Waffles will sadly have to wait for later.

"Keep going, I'll catch up!" Gary shouts as he pushes the boy forward so that he can stop and aim at their pursuers. He fires a few times, but he misses them. Damn, these busy markets are not good for gun fights. 

Okay, this won't work. He gives up attacking and sprints to catch up with his boy who, of course, slowed down to wait for him. He waves the kid on when he catches his eye, and Little Cato nods and starts to run again.

Gary is still catching up when he sees someone burst through the crowd, gun blazing, and pointing right at Little Cato. It fires, and all of Gary's instincts kick in as he leaps to cross the distance between him and his boy, wrapping his body around him as a shield. Gary grunts as the shot hits his robotic arm, causing it to burn the nerve connections. 

He doesn't let the pain stop him though, so he picks up Little Cato and fires at the one who shot him, finally hitting his target. He books it back to the ship in record time, letting his boy jump down and run to get back up as Gary finishes off the enemy. He is so glad that the kid listens to him.

There's six people approaching now, but with Nightfall, HUE, and Fox joining the fight, the problem is taken care of quickly. When all of the bounty hunters are down, Gary lets out a relieved sigh.

"No injuries?" Nightfall asks.

Gary thinks about how his arm was hit, but it can't be bad. He just nods as he walks into the ship and is quickly met with a certain little cat jumping at him. Gary catches him flawlessly and plants a giant kiss to the kid's forehead.

"You did so good, Spidercat! Just like we taught you!" Gary praises, ruffling his hair.

Little Cato smiles. "Is your arm okay?"

Gary waves off the kid's concern. "Yeah, that's what robot arms are good for. Taking damage and it not hurting."

He motions for the crew to follow him because he is going to get those damn waffles if it's the last thing he does, ignoring the way he feels his arm jitter slightly. And the little jolt of pain where the arm connects with his skin? Nothing to worry about there.

* * *

Gary was wrong. So very wrong. 

His arm hurts _so much_.

The first day, he barely noticed anything other than mild discomfort. By day three, it was more frequent short-circuiting and stronger pain. Now it's day seven, it's unbearable and constant. When he's around the others, he has to put all of his focus into forcing his arm to stay still instead of spasming like it wants to do.

Right now he's in his room, his jacket off because the pain is making him very hot. He's leaning against the side of his bed, his face scrunched up in pure agony. Gary can see the sparks flaring around the damaged spot, the wires exposed and burnt. He's genuinely surprised that it's still working, to be honest.

He laughs at that, but moving only makes it hurt more as the arm is jostled. Gary bites down a scream, not wanting to alert anyone of what's happening. He can...deal with this. Yeah, he can do this.

A sharp flare shoots through his arm, sending pain radiating through his entire left side. It's so painful that he barely has time to think before he's grabbing the pillow off of his bed and screaming into it at the top of his lungs. His side is on fire, and he knows that if he even dared to look at his shoulder, it would would look like hell. Tears are pooling in his eyes as he pants and screams over the non-stop searing pain. 

There's nothing he can do to stop it, other than removing his arm. Which will not be happening, because it's too important to him. The clasp of friends....

A stronger jolt of pain distracts him from his thoughts, and he shouts, "_Fuck!_"

Okay, this is insane. Why is he doing this?! If he just removes the arm, everything will be better. But, Avocato—no, arm needs to come off—was his best friend. This arm was when their friendship started.

Another surge of agony. "Shit!"

Gary screams as loud as he can into the pillow, letting out all of his frustration. Fine, he'll...stick with the arm. If he has time to do something like this every day, this will be manageable.

"Dad?"

Gary freezes, but another wave comes. He doesn't even have the strength to try to stop it, so he screams again. 

"Dad! What's wrong?" Little Cato screams.

Gary lifts his head up, tears pooling in his eyes, to see his boy standing next to him with a look of horror on his face. _Huh, how did he get over here so fast_, Gary wonders.

"Nothing, Spidercat," Gary groans. "I'm fine."

More pain, but now Gary's screaming isn't muffled by a pillow. "Ahh! _Fuck fuck fuck!_"

"Dad," Little Cato cries. Gary really looks at the kid after that, and oh no, he's crying. His little chest is moving rapidly, and Gary can't have the kid panicking right now. "You're hurt!"

"It's just some pain, bud. It'll pass soon," Gary grunts.

Little Cato presses his mouth into a thin line, and since he has no concept of personal space, he lifts Gary's shirt to see his side. The kid freezes, bursts into full on sobbing, and runs out of the room screaming for Nightfall.

He's probably just overreacting. Yeah, it can't be _that_ bad—!

Oh.

Oh shit. 

Gary stands up, but the pain lacing his left side forces him to brace himself against the wall as he hobbles out of the room, intending on meeting Nightfall halfway because the red lines branching across his skin definitely do not look okay. He grunts as he enters the hallway, stopping to lean against the wall and hold his side.

"Gary!" Nightfall shouts, running up to him. She looks concerned, and Little Cato is standing behind her nervously, tears streaming down his little face. "What happened? Little Cato couldn't really tell me anything other than—!"

She's cut off when Gary lifts his shirt with a huff. She stares at it in shock, and then looks back up at Gary's face to see his guilty expression. "I messed up. Like, super badly. It's my arm—SHIT!"

Nightfall's face hardens, and she carefully wraps an arm around him to keep his upright. "Little Cato, can you go grab the arm repair kit and bring it to the medbay for me? The one I showed you a while ago."

His kid nods, putting on a brave face, and he glances at Gary worriedly then runs off to do what he was asked.

Gary sighs as they start making their way through the ship. "You shouldn't have involved him in this."

Nightfall glares at him. "Too late, you already did."

He muffles another scream as they walk into the medbay, Little Cato already waiting with the tools. Nightfall sets him down on an operating table and begins working silently at removing his arm while it glitches out.

Little Cato continues to stand there in worry next to Gary's right side, so he holds his good hand out for his kid to hold as a way to comfort them both. Damn, his kid is so tough, watching him get his arm removed. 

The process of taking it off is a lot shorter than putting it on, so Nightfall is done within a few minutes. She rubs some sort of salve on his shoulder and side where it hurts the most, and she is most definitely doing it hard as a way for him to know how pissed she is at him. Which is totally understandable. She wraps bandages around his shoulder to keep the the port from being exposed, and that's it. All done.

Gary sits up slowly, trying to adjust to the weird feeling of having nothing in where his arm should be. Sure, a prosthetic felt different from the real deal, but it was pretty close to the original. But now, there's nothing.

Cautiously, Gary places his remaining hand on his shoulder, rubbing a little bit of the tension away.

"Do you want your shirt back?" Nightfall asks, a hint of exasperation in her voice.

He shakes his head. "I'm sorry you had to do that," he says quietly, looking her in the eye.

"I'm not upset that I had to do it," she says, crossing her arms. "I'm mad that you let this go on for, I don't know, about a week? You could have damaged your nervous system! Honestly, you'll be lucky if your body doesn't reject a new prosthetic after all the damage your nerve endings took!"

Gary blanches at that. "I might not be able to get a new arm?"

"Yeah. That was really stupid of you," she states angrily.

Gary feels the tears start to come, so he buries his face in his hand and takes in a stuttering breath. "I didn't want to lose it. It's just...Avocato put it on. And that was when our friendship started...damn, I'm so stupid for doing this."

A small hand is placed on Gary's knee, and he turns to see Little Cato looking up at him with those big eyes of his. "You don't have to lose it. You can keep it! Like one of those sou-thingies you talk about," he says softly.

"A souvenir?" Gary asks, receiving a nod in response. He laughs a little at that. "Yeah, buddy, you're right."

Nightfall places a hand on his good shoulder. "Gary, I don't think Avocato would have ever wanted you to value your broken arm over your own safety. But you did it, so now you have to be prepared to handle things if your body can't support a new prosthetic."

Gary frowns, but then Little Cato jumps up onto the table with him and sits in his lap, giving him a hug. He awkwardly hugs back, wanting to wrap two arms around his son but only having one that responds to it. 

"I'm glad that you're okay, though. Well, for the most part." Nightfall smiles, and he smiles tiredly back. "I'll go look for a place to get you a new arm while you relax and get some rest. Take painkillers if you need them."

She walks off, leaving Gary and Little Cato sitting together. The kid still looks a little frightened, and Gary cards his fingers through his fur to calm him down. Little Cato leans into the touch just like he always does.

"I'm sorry that I scared you, buddy," Gary apologizes. He plants a quick kiss to the kid's forehead. "How about we go watch a movie though?"

His son lights up, instantly jumping down and grabbing Gary's hand to drag him to the common area. If passing the time until he gets another arm is like this, he thinks he'll be able to make it.

* * *

Gary really needs to stop jinxing himself. Every single time he thinks something won't be bad, it turns out bad. Fantastic.

He can't wear shirts. He puts one on every day, and then immediately takes it off because the empty sleeve bothers him more than the missing arm does. Isn't that pathetic? He knows it's been annoying everyone to see him shirtless for the past few days, but he doesn't care.

And he can't pilot the ship. He needs two arms. Gary currently has one arm. The only good to come out of that is teaching Little Cato how to fly and seeing how much the kid loves it. Plus he's too small to sit in the seat without something to boost him up, so he sits on Gary's lap as he tells his boy what to do. Instructing is harder when he can only demonstrate some things, but he's making it work. 

Cooking is a struggle. Nightfall has had to help him every time when he needs something done that Little Cato isn't allowed to do. She says she doesn't mind it, but he knows how much of a burden he's being. It really sucks.

He's never really thought about how he's missing an arm until now. When it first got ripped off, he was so hyped up on adrenaline and in shock to even process it, and the new one was put on right after it happened so it barely crossed his mind. But now he has to think about it, how he has to tell himself not to try to move something that isn't there. The confusion he feels is really something else. 

However, the worse part of all is that he can't pick up his son. Or wrestle with him. Or play cards without getting frustrated. Or sleep with him because the kid moves around and accidentally touches his shoulder a lot. And he knows that he wouldn't be able to protect him properly if they were in danger.

Gary can't be a good father like this, and it's _crushing him_. 

Currently, Gary is sitting in the pilot's seat. He can't do anything, but this is usually where he likes to be anyways. He's not wearing a shirt, and he just wants to melt into the seat and disappear right now. 

"Hey, Dad. Psst."

Gary turns around to see Little Cato peaking into the room, hiding behind the doorway. "Yeah, bud?"

"I wanna show you something," he whisper-talks conspiratorially.

Gary stands up with a smile and walks out into the hallway to see the kid hiding something behind his back. Gary raises an intrigued eyebrow at it and kneels down to be at his son's level, but Little Cato just winks.

"You gotta close your eyes. And gimme your hand," Little Cato instructs. 

Gary does as told, and he feels Little Cato grab his hand and put something made out of fabric in it. He is definitely confused, so he opens his eyes to see...his shirt?

"Spidercat, did Nightfall tell you to make me put a shirt on?" Gary asks in confusion.

The Ventrexian shakes his head. "No, look at the left side." 

Gary glances at it, and instead of an empty sleeve, there's just more shirt. It's poorly sewn together, but the patch that replaces the sleeve does it well enough. He looks between the shirt and his kid in surprise, Little Cato smiling proudly.

"Did you make this?" Gary asks in disbelief.

His son nods. "Yeah! You didn't like how the sleeve flapped, so I cut it off and made that! Put it on!"

Gary sits down so that he can grab the bottom of the shirt and slip it over his head, sliding his arm through it and pulling it down. Getting dressed has been a struggle, and he never thought before how difficult it could be with only one limb.

The shirt fits fine, obviously. It was one of his shirts to begin with, but the addition Little Cato made? Wow, it feels so much better now.

"Do you like it?" His son is smiling so brightly, and Gary is just completely overwhelmed by how good of a kid he has.

"Spidercat, I _love it_. I mean, just look at this craftsmanship! Stitched together perfectly!" Gary praises. 

Gary drags the kid closer to him, pulling him into a hug and ruffling his hair. Little Cato hugs him back, wrapping his arms around Gary's neck. For some reason, just having a shirt that doesn't make him feel wrong energizes him, so he wraps his arm around his son snugly and stands up.

Even though it was his idea, Gary is still surprised that he managed to pick the kid up. Little Cato gasps excitedly over this new development, staring at his dad in elation. "You picked me up!"

"Yeah, I did...," Gary trails off happily. "Wait, I'm gonna put you down and try something."

He sets the kid down, and Little Cato can clearly see where this experiment is heading by the way he's bouncing on the balls of his feet. Gary takes his arm and wraps it around the boy's stomach, then swings him up to rest against his hip. 

They both look at each other in surprise and laugh excitedly. Little Cato wraps himself around his dad like an octopus to make it easier to be held, and Gary starts walking around with the kid in his arm.

"You know, I think I'm getting good at this," Gary says cockily as a joke.

Little Cato nods. "I think it's cool!"

"What's cool?"

"That you're still awesome even without your cool robot arm! I wouldn't be able to bake cookies with only one arm," Little Cato says innocently.

Gary stops and stares at his kid in mild shock. How is he so sweet? How? It literally seems impossible to have this nice of a child.

"That is really nice of you to say, son."

He would give Little Cato a fist bump if he could, but a quick kiss on the forehead also works.

If he can't get another prosthetic, he thinks that it won't be as bad as he expected it to be. Especially if he's got his boy to help him.

* * *

"Are you nervous?" Nightfall asks, walking alongside Gary, Little Cato holding his hand and Mooncake trailing behind.

Gary shrugs. "I mean, a little bit? I want a new robot arm, definitely. But if my nerves are done for, I think I'll be able to handle only one arm."

Nightfall smiles, and Gary smiles back. 

"Can I pick the arm?"

The two adults laugh at Little Cato's question, but Gary still nods his head. He laughs again when Little Cato pumps his fist in excitement over the news.

Together, they walk into the prosthetic shop and are immediately hit with the sight of a lot of limbs, some more metal in nature and others looking way too real. Gary grimaces at that, but Little Cato just starts trying to poke everything.

"You Gary?" the shopkeeper asks. Gary nods, and the man starts sizing him up. "Well, you weren't kiddin' 'bout missin' an arm."

Gary's face scrunches up in confusion. "Well, yeah! This is your whole thing, guy, why would I lie about that?"

"Just not often y'see a whole arm, s'all."

The weird man waves Gary forwards, so he follows after him reluctantly, holding Little Cato tight against his side because the kid really wants to touch everything in sight. 

"Dad, I want a robot arm," Little Cato says as he passes one that has several different gun options on it.

"Yeah, no, not happening, buddy. It's not as fun as you think it is. Especially the losing an arm part."

They enter a room with a bunch of different pieces of equipment in it, and the shopkeep gestures for Gary to sit down. 

"Lemme see th'spot," he grumbles.

Gary removes his jacket, which he is much more comfortable in after some adjustment, and takes his shirt off to leave his shoulder port exposed. The man hums to himself as he looks at it, and then places a piece of machinery onto it. 

Gary is about to ask what it does, but the moment he opens his mouth, the man interrupts, "Checkin' ya nerves. I'm not gonna fit you for an arm that don't work."

The man fiddles with the device as Gary holds Little Cato still in his lap because he knows that the moment he lets go, the kid is going to run and try to eat or touch something he shouldn't.

After a few minutes, the man takes it off and looks at what it says, mumbling indiscernible things under his breath. Then he drops it on the table and turns towards Gary, all four of his eyes piercing his gaze.

"So, good news or bad news first?"

"Good news!" Little Cato shouts, his tail swishing in anticipation.

"Well, ya can get an arm." Gary feels all of the tension in his body drain, relief rushing through him immediately. "Bad news, not today."

"What? What do you mean not today?" Gary asks.

The guy shrugs. "Nerve damage. Ya messed 'em up real good, but they should heal eventually. I'd give it 'bout a year."

Mooncake nuzzles up against Gary's face, humming sadly. Little Cato and Nightfall look crestfallen as well, but Gary doesn't feel too bad about it.

He can do this.

They pay the guy for seeing him and walk out into the daylight. Little Cato is hugging Gary's left leg, and it somehow makes walking feel more normal now that there's more weight on that side.

"Gary, are you sure that you're okay with this?" Nightfall asks.

He nods. "Yeah, it's a small problem compared to everything else going on in our lives, right?"

"It's going to make you unbalanced when you fight, and it gives you a disadvantage," Nightfall insists. "You'll have to get used to a whole different method of piloting."

"I...think it'll be okay, Nightfall." Gary gives her his best reassuring smile, and she rolls her eyes at him fondly.

"You got this, Dad!" Little Cato shouts.

Gary smiles at the bundle on his leg. "Heck yes I do, Little Cato! Now, I am going to go show you all how I can still win at cards!"

Little Cato sticks his tongue out to taunt Gary, and the kid's smile makes him think that he was being an idiot stressing before. Arm or no arm, that won't change how he can parent the kid. Plus, maybe it is kind of cool.

"Can we race back to the ship?" Little Cato asks, shaking Gary's leg.

Gary laughs and leans down to stare the kid down. "Don't think I'm gonna go easy on you, Spidercat."

"You're on!" Little Cato yells.

Nightfall rolls her eyes again, but she still gives them a countdown. And when Gary wins to Little Cato's dismay, he really feels like this'll be alright.


End file.
